99, formerly known as 99Taxis, is a

vehicle for hire A vehicle for hire is a vehicle providing private transport or shared transport for a fee, in which passengers are generally free to choose their points or approximate points of origin and destination, unlike public transport, and which t ...

company operating in

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. It is owned by DiDi.

History

Launched in 2012 servicing

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

, the company has expanded since then to other regions. It was founded by Paulo Veras, Renato Freitas and Ariel Lambrecht. In January 2017, 99 received funding by DiDi. The funding allowed ''99'' to open more positions, and deal with competitors. In May 2017, another round of investments, led by

SoftBank is a Japanese multinational Investment company, investment holding company headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, that focuses on investment management. The group primarily invests in companies operating in technology that offer goods and services ...

, raised US$100 million. On January 3, 2018, DiDi purchased the remainder of 99 for an undisclosed amount, but rumored to be at US$600 million, making 99 Brazil's first so-called "

unicorn The unicorn is a legendary creature that has been described since Classical antiquity, antiquity as a beast with a single large, pointed, spiraling horn (anatomy), horn projecting from its forehead. In European literature and art, the unico ...

", i.e., a

startup company A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an Entrepreneurship, entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model. While entrepreneurship includes all new businesses including self-employment and businesses tha ...

valued at over US$1 billion.

References

Transport companies established in 2012 Companies based in São Paulo Ridesharing companies of Brazil Road transport in Brazil Online companies of Brazil Transport companies of Brazil Brazilian brands Brazilian subsidiaries of foreign companies {{Brazil-company-stub